Yelp

Summary ipo Updated Mar 19, 2026

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Location San Francisco, CA
Founded 2004
Latest Stage IPO
Total Raised $56M
Website https://www.yelp.com
Sector
local-services consumer reviews

Investors

Max Levchin Angel (2004)
Ron Conway Seed (2005)
Peter Fenton Series B ($5M) (2006)
Jeremy Levine Series A (2005)
Roger McNamee 2010 (2010)
Fred Anderson Series E (2010)
Bessemer Venture Partners Series A (2005)
Benchmark Series B (2006)
dag-ventures Series C (2008)
Elevation Partners Series E (2010)
SV Angel Seed (2005)
SciFi VC Angel/Chairman (2004)

Founders

Jeremy Stoppelman CEO & Co-Founder
Russel Simmons CTO & Co-Founder

About

Yelp is a local business review and recommendation platform founded in 2004 by former PayPal employees Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons in San Francisco 12. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2012 at $15 per share 3.

Funding History

Round Date Amount Lead Investor(s) Key Co-Investors Valuation
Angel 2004 $1M Max Levchin — —
Series A 2005 $5M Bessemer Venture Partners — $13M pre-money
Series B Oct 2006 $10M Benchmark Capital — —
Series C Feb 2008 $15M DAG Ventures Bessemer, Benchmark ~$200M (rumored)
Series E Jan 2010 $25M Elevation Partners — —
IPO Mar 2012 $107M Goldman Sachs (lead underwriter) Citigroup, Jefferies ~$898M market cap

Sources: 1234567

Note: Elevation Partners also purchased up to $75M in secondary shares from employees and early investors in addition to the $25M primary investment 6.

What Investors Say

No independently sourced investor testimonials found.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found.

Sources

  1. Yelp Wikipedia page, accessed March 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelp↩↩

  2. PortersFiveForce.com, “What is Brief History of Yelp Company?,” accessed March 2026. https://portersfiveforce.com/blogs/brief-history/yelp↩↩

  3. CNN Money, “Yelp IPO price: $15 a share, above target,” March 1, 2012. https://money.cnn.com/2012/03/01/technology/yelp_ipo_price/index.htm↩↩

  4. TechCrunch, “Yelp secures $10 million more for local reviews,” October 4, 2006. https://techcrunch.com/2006/10/04/yelp-secures-10-million-more-for-local-reviews/↩

  5. TechCrunch, “Yelp Raises $15 Million Fourth Round, Rumored Valuation $200 Million,” February 26, 2008. https://techcrunch.com/2008/02/26/yelp-raises-15-million-fourth-round-valuation-200-million/↩

  6. TechCrunch, “Update: Elevation To Invest As Much As $100 Million In Yelp,” January 27, 2010. https://techcrunch.com/2010/01/27/update-elevation-to-invest-as-much-as-100-million-in-yelp/↩↩

  7. Tracxn, “Yelp - Raised $56M Funding from 16 investors,” accessed March 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/companies/yelp/__LdhBGal3bI3gZ2GsudAIAB7DqjG0hS9Zv7bGKRftqU4/funding-and-investors↩